In March of 2023, Biffy Clyro frontman Simon Neil would team up with Biffy bandmate Mike Vennart and ex-Slayer drummer Dave Lombardo in a project titled EMPIRE STATE BASTARD, to blow the pants off of a packed Cathouse in Glasgow for their first ever live show.
What started as a distraction for Simon Neil during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, Empire State Bastard was conceived as part of a quartet of new music releases from the Biffy frontman. In a 2020 interview with NME, Neil would talk in more detail about the future of his band Biffy Clyro, as well as the continuation of the long-thought-dead side project Marmaduke Duke, who’s last album released all the way back in 2009. In the interview, Neil makes mention of the difficulties he faced that arose as a result of the nation-wide lockdown. He managed to keep himself occupied, however, releasing the follow-up to Biffy Clyro’s third consecutive chart topping album, ‘A Celebration Of Endings’, titled ‘The Myth of The Happily Ever After’ in October of 2021.